This fully illustrated catalogue is the first comprehensive monograph on Alexis Smith in 30 years and presents the full range of the artist’s dynamic output, from her intimate artist books and collages to large wall paintings and installations. Providing new insights into Smith’s work, this volume connects the themes that have persisted throughout the artist’s career, from her exploration of identity and self-invention to her preoccupation with stereotypes and clichés in film and literature. This publication will introduce Smith’s expansive body of work to a new generation of viewers. Situated alongside movements of conceptual and pop art and shaped by the feminist movements of the 1970s, Smith’s singular career expands our understanding of American art and provokes us to think critically on the culture we share.


Published to accompany a major retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, 1 October 2022-26 February 2023